Chamber Blues Members Bios

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CORKY SIEGEL BIO - Harmonica/Piano/Vocal/Composer

DR. JAIME GORGOJO - Violin

Dr. Jaime Gorgojo frequently appears as a soloist and chamber musician both nationally and internationally. Recent appearances include recitals at the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Grand Teton Music Festival, Strathmore Hall in Washington DC, and Chicago Symphony Presents Chamber Music, solo and in collaboration with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, and Emanuel Ax.

Dr. Gorgojo is a 2018 recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from City of Chicago to produce the recording of an album titled “Iberia,” featuring Spanish and Georgian music for violin and piano.

Dr. Gorgojo combines his performing career with a vocation for pedagogy and an entrepreneur vision. He is Violin and Chamber Music Professor at North Eastern Illinois University in Chicago, and Founder and Artistic Director of CCMF (Chicago Chamber Music Festival), a summer program for young talented musicians, currently in its sixth season. During the summer of 2017 he was violin faculty and concertmaster for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival in the island of Hawaii, and in 2018 he taught master classes in Bowling Green State University and Harold Washington College in Chicago.

As an orchestra musician, Dr. Gorgojo often appears as guest concertmaster with Northbrook Symphony, Park Ridge Civic Orchestra, and other groups in Chicago. He was concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has performed under the baton of Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jaap van Zweden. During the 2018-2019 season he will join the Haymarket Opera Company, one of the country’s leading organizations for historical performances, as an orchestra member. An avid explorer of different musical styles, Dr. Gorgojo, performs as first violin with Corky Siegel´s Chamber Blues, an ensemble that juxtaposes blues and classical styles.

Dr. Gorgojo received his Doctor of Music and Literature degree from Indiana University in October 2013 with a thesis on the works for solo violin by Manuel Quiroga and Jesús de Monasterio. He is the winner of the “Juventudes Musicales de Madrid Award” and recipient of the prestigious “La Caixa Fellowship”, Spanish Culture Minister Scholarship, and the Bloomington Camerata Scholarship for excellence in orchestra playing. Dr. Gorgojo performs on a Pierre Dalphin violin from 2005.

CHIHSUAN YANG - Violin/Erhu

GRAMMY nominated multi-instrumentalist/songstress/producer and composer, Chihsuan (Violin, Erhu, Piano), a native of Taiwan, her body of work spans a multitude of genres and reaches beyond borders. She is a long-standing member of the legendary, Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues. Chihsuan has toured the world over and participated in highly-acclaimed productions, stages and festivals. While being featured as a soloist in various recordings and performances, Chihsuan continues to work with a variety of artists. From playing with Yo-Yo Ma and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, to Grammy Award winner David Foster and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Her renowned skill and eclectic versatility with the violin, erhu, and piano can be heard throughout the globe. 

Chihsuan's work reaches beyond live music and can also be heard on films, movie trailers, dance and theater productions. In 2014, she released her debut solo album Ways to Say Hello, a mix of original cinematic compositions. She performed on recordings for Brian Wilson's 11th studio album "No Pier Pressure" and recorded with him on “Soundstage” for PBS at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas. She later appeared on more "Soundstage" productions with singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, Jim Peterick for Survivor and Katherine McPhee.

Her participation in Writers Theater’s production of “Next to Normal” received a JEFF Award nomination in Chicago. Her original compositions “Aria” and “Hanoi” were awarded finalist at International Acoustic Music Awards. In 2020, she received her first Grammy Awards Nomination for the collaboration with The String Theory and spoken word artist, Sekou Andrews.

In 2021, Chihsuan composed and recorded a GAP commercial for their fall campaign and later composed American Player’s Theatre’s production “Sense and Sensibility”. She is currently recording a studio album with her duo ESCP along with Bob Garrett and another solo album. She enjoys cooking and leather making in her spare time.

Website: www.chihsuanyang.com

Doyle Armbrust - Viola

Noted as “a well-connected pillar of the Chicago new-music scene” by The New York Times and extolled for his “arrestingly unconventional” writing by Alex Ross in the The New Yorker, the only impression violist Doyle Armbrust ever made within the pages of the Boston Globe regards “falling helplessly on his behind.” Which is to say, it’s important to keep things in perspective.

Motivating his work are the twin beliefs that 1) Curiosity should be the only prerequisite for a captivating musical encounter, and 2) For a musical encounter to be relevant, it must immediately connect to what it means to be alive today. 

As a founding member of the thrice-Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet, he has performed on many of the country’s most distinguished stages, including Symphony Center, The Kennedy Center, Miller Theater, Big Ears Festival, The Library of Congress, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. Accused, but like, in a good way, of “obliterating the dividing line between past and present” (The New Yorker), Spektral commissioned over 85 composers during its 12-year career including sonic adventurers such as Augusta Read Thomas, George Lewis, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and collaborated with such incandescent talents as those of Theaster Gates, Miguel Zenón, and Julia Holter, to name a few.

Previous posts include principal violist of Firebird Chamber Orchestra, core member of both Ensemble Dal Niente and The Chicago Symphony’s Music Now series, a memorable five years with Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, [and he’s back with us!! Yay - Corky Siegel] and a three-year fellowship with Michael Tilson Thomas’s New World Symphony. The moments he remembers most vividly are: trying to keep it together while playing in an orchestra backing Barbra Streisand, some particularly motivating backstage words from the late musical titan Pierre Boulez, and performing the Chicago premiere of Morton Feldman’s 6-hour String Quartet No. 2 without passing out.

When not board gaming or hiking the country’s national parks with his family – playwright Laura Schellhardt and 10-year-old shark enthusiast Arthur Darrow – Doyle pens liner notes, essays, and reviews. His writing appears in program books at the Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati Symphonies, as well as between the covers of Chicago Magazine, Time Out Chicago, Crain's Chicago Business, and The Chicago Tribune.

Doyle is the founding violist for new-music supergroup The Grossman Ensemble as well as host and creator of The Society of Disobedient Listeners – a pre-concert discussion series at UMS (University Musical Society) in Ann Arbor and Nova Linea Musica in Chicago.

He is conspicuously proud to serve on the board of directors for D-Composed, a Black ensemble based in Chicago and driven by a mission to uplift and empower society by providing a platform for exceptional Black music.

Jocelyn Butler Shoulders - Cello

Jocelyn received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Cello Performance from Indiana University, and wrapped up her post-graduate studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts studying with John Sharp, principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony. She was a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra for two years, ending her final year as co-principal. She has performed with several great orchestras such as the Aspen Chamber and Festival Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony’ Orchestra’s Music Now concerts, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony.

Jocelyn is an avid chamber musician. Her quartet became the quartet in residence at Indiana University for a year after winning the IU Kuttner Quartet competition. After arriving in Chicago, she was invited to perform in a string quartet coached by Richard Young of the Vermeer Quartet. They performed on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series broadcasted live on Chicago’s classical station WFMT, and they performed several concerts in the Netherlands while studying with the Vermeer Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet. As part of the International Chamber Artists in Chicago, Jocelyn has given numerous performances, including a performance on the Mostly Music concert series, a performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto in Schaumburg, a performance/master-class at the University of North Carolina – Pembroke, and a performance on the University of Illinois Chicago’s Chamber Music Series. Additionally they performed on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess Concert Series broadcasted on WFMT, and they continue to be invited back to perform on WFMT’s “Live from WFMT” program. Jocelyn joined the Accende Ensemble in August 2010 and they will be going on their first tour in August 2011. Expanding her reach into the world of chamber music, Jocelyn is excited to be joining Corky Siegel’s Chamber Music Blues in August 2011. Currently she is a member of the International Chamber Artists, Accende Ensemble, Corky Siegel’s Chamber Music Blues, New Millennium Orchestra, Illinois Symphony, and Illinois Philharmonic.

Jocelyn is also an enthusiastic private cello teacher and has a large studio at the New Music School in Chicago. Jocelyn has studied with the top professional musicians and professors in the world including Orlando Cole (Curtis Institute), Anthony Elliott (Univ. of Michigan), Eric Kim (retired principal – Cincinnati Symphony), and Stephen Geber (retired principal – Cleveland Orchestra). The knowledge given to her by the musical greats combined with her own vast musical experience and love for children, has made her one of the premier cello teachers in Chicago.

Kalyan Pathak - Tabla

Kalyan Pathak (Tabla) is a composer, musician, drummer and a percussion player of a multi cultural experience covering a very vast base.

“Fleet Finger Virtuosity”
- Chicago Tribune - Howard Reich

Born in Ahmedabad, India, formally trained, from his age 9 till age 15, in Classical Tabla with Ustad Kader Khan, later an apprenticeship with the most prominent drummer, Mr. Ranjit Barot, brought teenaged Kalyan to Bombay in the mid 80’s. While devoting himself to western drumset, Kalyan concurrently did regular studio session work in Bollywood, and toured all over India playing with jazz and rock music bands.

Kalyan came to Chicago in 1991 on a full scholarship from Roosevelt University earning B. Mus degree with honors, and since has become one of the busiest virtuoso tabla/multi-ethnic percussionists in the country, and has performed with international artists such as, Aretha Franklin, Regis Philbin, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Theordore Bikel, as a soloist with Elgin Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Ballet, collaborative group member with Fareed Haque, Howard Levy, Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Recent projects include World Premier of original score and composition of “Shanti Paath’ with Chicago Children’s Choir and Fulctum Point New Music Project at Pritzker Pavilion (2013), recordings with his own group “Jazz Mata”, composing and performing jazz big band composition for Chicago Silk Road Project (2006), and tours of Israel, Germany, Switzerland and Brazil on various musical projects.

Kalyan also created and performed tabla part and its Audio score for “Lahara Concerto for Sitar/Guitar and Tabla” by Fareed Haque, which debuted at the Orchestra Hall, Chicago, soloist Haque on Sitar/Guitar and Maestro, Zakir Hussain, on Tabla.

"Guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg’s sweeping solos on 'Pilgrimage' and a guest appearance by Chicago tabla virtuoso Kalyan Pathak on the immensely attractive new tune 'Alhambra' (with its echoes of Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ 'Sketches of Spain') made this a high point of the weekend." - Chicago Tribune - Howard Reich  (Dr. Lonnie Smith performance -Pritzker Pavilion on 9/1/17 - Chicago International Jazz Festival)